A letter of apology written by Alex ‘Hurricane’ Higgins after he punched a press officer in front of the world’s media is to be sold at auction.
Snooker champion Higgins wrote the letter minutes before he appeared in front of a disciplinary panel after a bust-up with Colin Randle, who at the time was working as a press officer for the sport’s governing body.
“I was very upset at the time in respect of personal and financial matters,” wrote Higgins, who died in Belfast on July 24th at the age of 61 after a long battle with throat cancer.
Mr Randle, of Findern in south Derbyshire, was officiating at the Crucible World Championship in Sheffield on the evening of April 14th, 1990.
Higgins had just crashed out of the world tournament to Steve James and as he was entering the media area for a post-match press conference he turned around and “walloped” Mr Randle in the stomach.
Mr Randle (60), said the player may have already held a grudge against him after he reported him for not attending a press conference the previous year.
The tussle resulted in Higgins being suspended for a year and docked so many points that his ranking fell to 120.
The letter was written three months after the incident and had been in a drawer for years, Mr Randle said. He has decided to donate some of the proceeds to cancer research.
Hansons Auctioneers said the letter was expected to fetch between £1,500 and £2,000 when it is sold in Derby on November 25th.
PA